A Web Undone 2

After tonight, it does appear likely that Hillary can win, but it still seems possible that she can ensure that we and Barack lose.

. . . that the two-year-old said jump, or that the four-year-old did it.

Three books I have been reading lately chronicle grim pasts and suggest possible futures for the African continent, of which Morocco is a key part.

In addition to Assia Djebar's The Tongue's Blood Does Not Run Dry and Ishmael Beah's A Long Way Gone, I have also been reading Thomas L Friedman's The World Is Flat. It is hard to believe that all three authors are living on the same planet.

Djebar, in series of short stories, chronicles decades of French on Algerian, Algerian on Algerian, and Algerian on French violence, much of it directed against women and chidren. Beah recounts his years as a child soldier in the Sierra Leone army in a brutal tale of close range killing after killing after killing. These blood soaked memoirs, recounting a level and scale of violence and brutality not seen on the North American continent since 1865, paint a macabre picture of societies so torn by violence and suspicion that a restoration of some sort of normal life seems utterly remote.

In contrast, Friedman comes from another world. He paints a picture of "globalization" in which increased efficiencies in communication and distribution of goods, and a resulting greater dispersion of knowledge, allow hitherto excluded countries such as China and India to tap into global prosperity and compete on an equal footing with Europe and America. While acknowledging that the free ride of American economic and technological dominance is drawing to a close, Friedman argues that more equal competition and greater global prosperity will also benefit America, so long as America retains an openness to innovation and a will to compete. Friedman argues that it will still be possible for America to compete in the brave new world of globalization, but he also sees ominous signs that present day America is not really prepared to do so.

Friedman's showcase example of the future of globalization is Bangalore, India, which he paints as a high tech oasis providing modern services to the North American continent in areas as diverse as computer game development, tax preparation, and even overnight X-ray diagnosis by highly trained Indian doctors. Friedman points to a combination of high speed information and computerization with low Indian wages and a cadre of highly trained, English-speaking professionals forged in the crucible of India's fiercely competitive Indian Institutes of Technology. Friedman sees this cadre of highly educated Indians as an essential resource not only for the development of the Indian subcontinent but also for the continuing technological advancement of the United States. The key question for Friedman, however, is whether Bangalore's island of prosperity in a sea of Indian poverty can share the wealth fast enough to prevent political instability. The price of the failure to share wealth, power, and opportunity is illustrated vividly by the examples of Algeria and Sierra Leone, as Friedman recognizes when he concedes that there is no greater threat to his program for world prosperity than the existence of violent, failed states cut off from the general rise in education and prosperity.

As I hear reports of the real estate boom in Marrakesh and the investment projects of H.M. Mohammed VI, I am tempted to wonder whether Marrakesh is headed in the direction of Bangalore or the direction of Freetown. As a comparative model of stability and moderation in the region, Morocco appears to have bright prospects. Indeed, Friedman explicitly argues that is the Arab countries that have been obliged to develop their people rather than their oil that will most likely enjoy the brightest long term future. At the same time, it would also appear that Morocco must capitalize on its current prosperity by investing in the education of its population and leveraging its currently underutilized educated population at a level that will allow it to compete on the world stage.

I am half way through Ishmael Beah's A Long Way Gone, which I purloined from my wife before she had a chance to read it. The prose is crisp, but the writing has a nightmarish quality both because of the horror of its subject matter and its remove from ordinary experience. Watching a man's eyes give up hope before they roll back into his head as you cut his throat, seeing the mud shift and bubble as a man buried alive struggles to free himself, or viewing the ashes of the house in which your family was burned alive are scenes most of us will not have to face and which it would be easier not to imagine. The obverse of our privileged lives is all too easy to ignore, but it commands our attention.

One reason that I have been away from the blog so long is that I have been pursuing my own minor, personal version of the Holy Grail of office computing — the universal address book, with partial success. (Are quests ever really achieved?)

One of my ambitions has always been to link a universal address book to my Palm Pilot, my email system, and my word processor/office suite and to be able to share it with my family. To that end, having tried a number of alternatives, I am currently attempting to configure OpenLDAP, Horde, and OpenOffice.org on my Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon system — soon to be Hardy Heron if all goes well. For extra good measusre, I have been experimenting with O3spaces and webdav for document management as well.

So far, I have mainly concluded that while LDAP may be very powerful, it is a beast to configure. And syncml is no walk in the park either.

I have been on a prolonged vacation from the blogosphere lately &msdash; a combination of two little girls, a heavy caseload, and a massive revamping of my home computer. As I was surfing this eveing, however, I noticed that Moroccan Vocabulary, on of my favorite sites, has a new location and a zween new look!

The New York Times reports that French women have longer, more interesting sex lives than Americans. This is news? On the other hand, French women did not get the vote until 1944.

The New York Times reports that Bobby Fischer's unquiet spirit has finally been laid to rest.

The Golden Compass was a good evening's entertainment while the power was out at home. While lushly produced, it did not have the clarity of the book.

Just in time for Christmas, the New York Times reviews a new translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.

I've waited two decades to dine at Washington, D.C.'s Marrakesh restaurant, 617 New York Ave NW, and tonight I had my chance. The mint tea at was quite good, as was the bellydancing (the least authentically Moroccan feature of the club). To our distress, however, the salad was bland (except the zaalouk was pretty good). The bread was stale. The bastilla was burnt. The chicken with lemon and olives was not made with preserved lemons. The chicken was dry and tasteless. The olives were an afterthought. And that was the best dish of the night. The lamb with prunes and almonds just tasted like lamb that had been boiled too long. And I swear, the couscous tasted as though it was boiled not steamed. The apples in our fruit basket still had the labels affixed. All in all, a high priced fiasco. Never again.

The New York Times pushes Marrakesh tourism.

Citing American French experience in Vietnam, French experience in Algeria, and British experience in World War II, Salon says no.

As the Bush Administration's puppet dictator Pervez Musharraf desperately seeks to cling to power by declaring martial law, we should all support the brave people of Pakistan who are resisting. Appropriately enough, on the forefront of the protesters seeking to restore the rule of law are Pakistan's lawyers, hundreds of whom have been rounded up, beaten, and jailed by the dictator's police force. The United States should not thoughtlessly continue to shovel aid into Pakistan's government while Musharraf runs amok.

The Morocco Foundation published an Intel press release describing Intel Chairman Craig Barrett's recent trip to Morocco to provide technical assistance and computer technology. Barrett pointed out that Intel's support for education in math and technology was not purely philanthropic, but also helped to develop technically literate workers and consumers who would contribute to Intel's business. As a podcast by Jason Lopez suggests, Barrett's visit raises the possibility that a country with 60 percent literacy for men and 40 percent for women can develop its human capital to the point that it can have a major impact in the modern technology marketplace.